The Bullroarer Atlas

AUSMAIN-016 - secondary catalog

Wathi-wathi (Wadi-wadi)

Australia - Murray River around Balranald - Tooleybuc - Southwest NSW

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Mathews' 1898 survey plate of Australian bull-roarers, showing the range of blade shapes he recorded — narrow banded slats, broad leaf forms,...
Representative image. Mathews' 1898 survey plate of Australian bull-roarers, showing the range of blade shapes he recorded — narrow banded slats, broad leaf forms, and forked and notched types; the Wathi-wathi (Wadi-wadi) instrument used in initiation ceremonies at the Murray–Lachlan junction near Balranald is not among the specific figures illustrated. R. H. Mathews, 'Bullroarers used by the Australian Aborigines', Journal of the Anthropological Institute 27 (1898), Plate VI Public domain Image source

Kalar

Kalar: name of the bullroarer whirled by a concealed man at the Wathi-wathi Burbung (initiation) and believed to carry a powerful magic influence; no literal meaning recorded (Wathi-wathi, Murray River SW NSW; Howitt 1904, p.592).

Howitt did not record a bullroarer rite of the Wathi-wathi directly; he placed them at the ceremony of their Murray River neighbours. His Wotjobaluk informant recalled that the Wathi-wathi were among those present at the Ta-tathi Burbung, the tooth-evulsion initiation Howitt describes a few pages on. At its climax a man concealed in the scrub at some distance whirls a humming instrument round his head, called Kalar, while a man advances with a mallet and a small wooden wedge driven between the novice's teeth to loosen them before the tooth is knocked out. The Kalar was held to carry a wonderful magic influence; after the Burbung it was usually given to some unmarried man, who either carried it about with him or concealed it in a safe place. Everything to do with the Burbung was sacred, and Howitt wrote plainly that any woman found prying into its mysteries would be severely punished, probably killed.

This instrument is supposed to have a wonderful magic influence, and is called Kalar.

Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia (1904), p.592
Object
Whirled slat used in Murray-Lachlan-junction initiation ceremony.
Function
Initiation voice; women-taboo on death penalty.
Map confidence
medium - approximate territory centroid (mining 2026)
Source location
p.592

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